The Purse

I knew the fridge was empty so I made a shopping list during my afternoon break and on the way home from work I stopped at Safeway. I grabbed a cart, hit the courtesy counter to get my lottery tickets for that nights drawing and then headed for the produce section.

I am not a picky shopper. I know what I'm after so I pretty much grab and go. I'm not one to pick up a head of lettuce or a green pepper and roll it around in my hands minutely inspecting it before dropping it in my cart. The exception of course is eggs. I always -- always! -- open the carton and check to make sure that none of them are broken.

I'd picked up the makings for a salad and was pushing my caret over toward the fruit when I saw her. She was standing next to the tomatoes and she had one in her hand and was checking it out like her life depended on its being absolutely flaw free. She was pretty. Not a raving beauty, but not bad to look at from the waist up. But from the waist down? Oh my fucking God! I was instantly in heat.

My major turn ons have always been legs, nylons and high heels. She was fairly tall, maybe five eight, and it looked like four feet of that was leg. She had on a skirt that fell to just below the knee and she was wearing hose and heels and not just any old heels, but the super sexy heels that don't seem to be much more than a collection of very thin leather straps attached to a sole and supported by a four inch heel. It was the kind of shoe worn by a woman who knew she had great legs and wanted to show them off.

My plan to get in, get what I needed and get out suddenly changed. I rarely got to see what this girl was showing and I decided that I was going to take my time shopping and do it not too far away from where she was doing hers. For the next twenty-five minutes I was never more than ten feet away from her as we wandered up and down the aisles. I ended up with far more in my cart that I had planned on getting, but I had to at least make the pretense of shopping as I followed her around and feasted on the visual treat she presented.

When it was time to head for the check out stands she got in a faster one than I did and I saw her walk out of the store as my checker took her time in ringing me up. I figured that I had seen the last of my leggy beauty. I had never seen her around before so the odds were that I wouldn't likely see her again.

I finally cleared the checkout stand and pushed my cart out of the store and toward my car and I saw her again. She was parked about six cars beyond mine and she was unloading her cart into the trunk of her car. She was putting the last bag into the trunk as I started down the parking aisle toward her. She walked away from her cart, got in the car and drove off. I saw that she had left her purse in the small fold down tray that is in the shopping cart and I hollered at her and waved my arms to try and stop her, but she kept on going.

I got her purse from her cart, loaded my groceries into my car and then turned to go back into the store and turn the purse in at the courtesy counter, but first I decided to look in the purse and check out the girls drivers license to see if she lived close enough to me that I could contrive some way to see more of her. Just as soon as I had that thought it occurred to me that I had the means to see more of her right in my hands. To hell with taking it to the counter, I'd deliver it to her.

++++++++++++++++

I knocked on the door to apartment 3A and waited. I figured that she was home because I saw the car she had loaded her groceries into in the parking lot. It never occurred to me until after I'd knocked that the girl might not be single. Maybe some humongous hairy dude would answer the door. I guess it didn't matter since I could hand the purse to him just as easily as I could hand it to her, but a big hairy dude was not what I had hoped to see as I drove over.

I saw the light coming through the security peep hole go away so I knew someone was on the other side of the door. I heard the security chain rattle -- putting it on or taking it off I wondered -- and then the door opened about six inches and I saw that it was the former. The girl looked through the gap at me and said:

"You're the creep who followed me through the store."

"Yeah, that was me."

"You better get out of here before I call the cops and turn you in for stalking me."

"I don't think that you want to do that. They might ask me why I'm here and that could be bad for you."

"Bad for me?"

"Yeah honey; very, very bad for you. They would ask me why I was here" and I lifted up her purse and showed it to her, "and I would tell them that you left your purse in your shopping cart and I brought it here to you. Then one of them -- they travel in pairs you know -- would say "Is that her purse?" and I would say yes and he would put out his hand for it so he could open it, look inside for your license to verify my story and that it was indeed your purse. He would be looking for your driver's license, but he would find the same thing I did when I looked. Now I have no experience in these things so I'm willing to believe that the little cellophane bags full of white stuff are powdered sugar that you carry with you because you don't like to put granular sugar in your coffee or tea, but the fuzz may not be so trusting. That is also the reason that I didn't turn the purse in at the store. They more than likely would have looked for your license to call you and tell you they had your purse, but they just might have called the cops.

"I'm a leg lover honey and looking at your gorgeous pins as you walked around the store made my day and for that reason alone I don't want to see you headed for a jail cell."

I handed her the purse through the partially opened door and said, "Best be a little more careful with it honey. The next guy that finds it might not be near as nice."

I turned and walked away without a back word glance. Fantastic legs and sexy high heels were not near enough to get me to spend time with someone who used what I found in her purse. Noooo thank you!

++++++++++++++++++++++

Two months later I was at a retirement party for Mark Whipple who had been my boss for the last seven years when I saw Adrianna again (I remembered her name from her driver's license) and I wondered who she had come to the party with. She obviously knew how great an asset her legs were because she was showing them off by wearing a short skirt and four inch heels. She was talking to Mark when I walked into the room and she saw me almost as soon as I saw her. She said something to Mark and he turned and looked at me and then went back to talking with her. I couldn't help but wonder what was up with that.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a vodka tonic and then set out to socialize and mingle. After I'd been there maybe twenty minutes Mark came up to me and said:

"You need to watch yourself Rob."

"Why is that boss?"

"You have caught the attention of my niece Adrianna. She asked me all about you. If she comes at you be careful."

"Why would she come at me?"

"No idea, but she did show an interest. Be careful son; she can be pretty overwhelming at times."

I was thinking "Don't I know it" as he walked away and I remembered what I'd found in her purse. I spent another hour socializing and then I got my coat and got ready to leave. The coat check girl was handing me my coat when I heard:

"You were really going to leave without saying hi to me?"

I turned and saw Adrianna standing there. "Why would I say hi to you? The last time I saw you you called me a creep and threatened to call the cops on me. What was I supposed to do? Walk up to you and say "Hi. Called the cops on anybody lately?" I don't think so."

"Oh come on. Cut me some slack here. Put yourself in my position. A man follows you around for almost half an hour in a store and then shows up at your apartment and knocks on your door. You would have had the same thoughts I did and don't forget that you didn't let me know that you were returning my purse until after you had me thinking that you were a stalker."

"Oh yes; your purse. How could I forget your purse. Why would a one hundred percent straight arrow like myself want to speak to the kind of person who had what you had in your purse?"

"Maybe the person isn't the kind of person you think she is. Maybe you could buy this person a cup of coffee at the Denny's on the corner and give her a chance to tell you all about what you saw."

I looked at her for a couple of seconds and thought "Why not? What could it hurt" and so I told her that I would meet her at the Denny's in five minutes.

"I'll go with you. I came with my Uncle Mark and I've already told him that you will be giving me a ride home."

"That was taking a hell of a chance."

"I didn't think so. Any guy trying to keep me out of jail because he liked my legs would seem like a safe bet. Besides, you wouldn't want to disappoint my Uncle Mark would you?"

On the ride to the restaurant I found out that she had lived with Mark from the time she was twelve until she got married. He was her only living relative when her parents were killed in an accident and he took her in and raised her.

"You are married?"

"Divorced. You?"

"Was, but it was many long years ago."

"You over her? It took me a long time to get over him."

"If the attachment was that strong why did it end?"

"He had forsaking all other issues."

"Forsaking all other issues?"

"In that he didn't. When he didn't forsake my Cousin Beth I ended it. How about you?"

"With mine it wasn't my cousin, but it was just as bad. He was my boss at the time. She told me that it meant nothing, that it was only just sex and she only did it to help me get me a promotion."

"Did you get the promotion?"

"My chances for advancement died when I broke his nose, three ribs and caused him to lose one of his testicles."

"And you didn't go to jail?"

"He wouldn't press charges after I told him I would sue him for alienation of affections and a half dozen other sexual charges. Did you know that you can sue for sexual harassment if your boss goes after your spouse promising to help you in your career?"

"Why didn't you sue? Wouldn't it have been just as satisfying to ruin him financially as it was hurting him?"

"According to the attorney I had at the time my wife, since we were still married, would have gotten half of it in the divorce settlement and no way was I going to let that bitch profit from cheating on me."

In the booth at Denny's I got the story about the cellophane packets that I had found in her purse.

"They weren't mine. I was at a club with my girlfriend Gloria and the guy she was dating at the time. I was out on the dance floor so I didn't see it, but apparently Gary, the guy she was dating, saw a couple of guys come in that he knew were on the narcotics squad. The problem was that they also knew him. Before they saw him he gave Gloria what he was carrying and she put it in her purse, grabbed mine and then came out onto the dance floor and told me that she needed to talk to me urgently. We went to the ladies room and she asked me to take the stuff and then she and Gary would leave and draw the cops off and while they were busy either following or searching Gary I could slip out the back door and meet them later and give the stuff back to them.

"I hadn't gone back to the table so the cops wouldn't associate me with Gary. She left the bathroom and I was supposed to wait five minutes or so and then go and sit at the bar until I saw her leave with Gary, but after she left I started thinking about how stupid it would be to sit around with a bunch of drugs with known narcotics officers in the building. I hid the stuff and then went home. I went back to the club the next day when the cops were gone and picked the stuff up. I stopped at the Safeway and went home. When you came to the door I thought it was Gloria until I looked through the peep hole and saw you. I do not use that stuff, never have and never will."

"And it is important that I know this why?"

"Uncle Mark speaks highly of you so you can't be all bad. You seem to really like my legs and you did try to keep me out of jail. A guy with all of those qualities just might be a good guy to know."

"Can this be considered as you making a move on me?"

"See? Another good quality. You are bright and perceptive. What do you think? Want to give it a try?"

"I can't remember the last time a girl came after me. In fact, I'm almost sure that it never happened. I just have to say okay if for no other reason than the sheer uniqueness of it. Then of course there are those sexy legs."

And that is how my relationship with Adrianna got started.

++++++++++++++++++++

I'd already been through a bad marriage and I was in no great hurry to do it again. Gail and I had married after knowing each other for only six months. I don't know if a longer relationship before proposing would have made any difference, but if I ever got married again I was going to know my bride a whole lot better than I knew Gail when I said I do.

Adrianna and I started out dating a couple of times a week and as we got to know each other better we saw each other more often. We kissed on our second date. I got my hands on her breasts on the fifth date and my fingers inside her panties on our seventh. When I took her home after our eighth she asked:

"How long are we going to dance around it? I'm past being ready for it."

I knew what she was asking and said, "I'm more than ready too, but I was letting you set the pace. I didn't want to push too hard and risk scaring you away."

She was magnificent in the bedroom. Enthusiastic, energetic, responsive and she loved it all. I warmed her up with some pussy licking and clit sucking and she pushed me into a sixty-nine. We made love missionary, she sucked me hard again and she went cowgirl. And then she asked me to take her ass. The first time in my life that a girl wanted anal the first time we fucked and I had never -- never! -- had a girl ask me for it.

We fell asleep cuddled up to each other and in the morning she woke me up with a blow job and then climbed aboard and rode me cowgirl until we both got off. We showered together which ended up with us back on the bed which led to a second shower. She fixed breakfast for us and afterward she had me do her on the kitchen table. After that night we never went out that we didn't end up in either her bed or mine.

Adrianna (or Ri as I called her) and I had an awful lot in common. We both liked to read, liked a full range of music from classical to bluegrass, liked hiking in the mountains and loved country western dancing. The only thing I didn't like where Ri was concerned was that she had a few friends that I would just as soon she didn't have. Gloria was her best friend and the fact that Gloria hung with drug dealers, druggies and other losers didn't bother Ri at all, but other than finding reasons for not spending time around Gloria (had to work late, change the oil in my car, pick the lint out of my navel) I stayed away from the issue. After a few initial comments about it where I carefully mentioned that sooner or later Gloria was going to be looking at some jail time when she ended up being with her drug selling boyfriend when he got busted I wisely kept my mouth shut about things. I knew how things would go if I tried to come between her and her best friend.

On her part she absolutely detested my cousin Lou and didn't care if I knew it or not. I didn't much care because Lou was a bit obnoxious, but I was used to him. She did like my mom and dad and while they had been lukewarm where Gail was concerned they thought that Ri was an absolute gem.

++++++++++++++++

After six months of dating Ri and I decided to move in together. She gave up her apartment and moved into the house that I had managed to hang onto when Gail and I went through our divorce. After four months of cohabitation I decided that I would like to make things permanent and I proposed.

"Are you serious?"

"Sure. After ten months together including four as pretend man and wife why not?"

"I don't know. I never thought about it. Things were going so well. Marriage would change things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I just know that marriage changes things."

"Well love, it is up to you. If you would rather keep things just as they are we can."

"I'm happy with our relationship honey. I'm just scared to do anything that might change it."

"Like I said Ri, it is up to you. I love you and I want to spend all my time with you with or without a ring on your finger."

"I love you too honey. It doesn't have to be a big wedding does it?"

"Not if you don't want one. Is that some kind of a yes?"

"I guess it is."

"Great. We can get the blood tests and license this week and I'll line up a justice of the peace for next week."

"No, not next week. Next week and the week after I'll be involved in a large project at work and I'll probably have to work late a couple of nights and maybe even a Saturday. Let me get that out of the way first."

Three weeks later we took our vows in front of my mom and dad, her Uncle Mark and her best friend Gloria and her current boyfriend. I say current because her drug dealing boyfriend got busted and was in jail. Fortunately for Gloria she wasn't with him at the time.

++++++++++++++++

The next five years flew by and my marriage to Ri was everything that I could have hoped for. Our friends all thought that we were the perfect couple and had the perfect marriage and as far as I was concerned they were right. Naturally there were problems, but not very many and most of them had to do with her job.

Twice her job had forced me to make some major changes in plans that I had made and it was always for the same reason. She would get put on a major project with an approaching deadline and she would end up working late and on weekends. The first time I'd scored some tickets to a concert and surprised her with them only to get the bad news that she was going to be working late the week of the concert.

The second time really pissed me off. A friend had signed up for a ten day cruise in the Caribbean and then had had a death in the family. He had paid in advance and the tickets were not refundable. I offered to buy them from him and damned if Ri didn't have another project that she had to work. But what the hey, just some minor glitches and nothing to really lose any sleep over.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Everything was going great and then I let a few beers too many make me stupid and I invited the serpent into the Garden of Eden.

One night Ri was doing something with her Uncle Mark so I stopped after work to have a couple of beers and shoot some pool at my favorite sports bar. Jimmy and some guy I didn't know were on one of the tables when I got there. Jimmy was one of the few guys that Gloria had gone out with that I liked. I challenged the winner and when Jimmy won we played. Jimmy was damned near unbeatable that night and I lost. I got out of the way of the next challenger who also lost. The next challenger was the guy Jimmy had been playing when I got there. He lost and joined me at my table and we introduced ourselves. His name was Paul and he was a good friend of Jimmy's. We talked sports and drank beer as we kept challenging the table and losing.

Finally a guy beat Jimmy and he joined us at the table. When Jimmy sat down he looked from me to Paul and then back at me as he said:

"Weird that you two should find each other at the same table."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"You are married to Adrianna and Paul used to be."

"Used to be what?"

"Married to Adrianna."

I turned to Paul, "Is that true? Are you Ri's ex?"